sabina munteanu-wozniak

Greatest Hits – 2010

I rarely write here. Mostly because I rarely have a story that would fit the photo. In this case, however, I make an exception and I write about 2010. I spent nearly half of this year trying to convince myself it does not suck, and the other half making changes. In the past week, I have been rounding up some of the most important things that changed the general outcome of the year, and in the end, of which I am quite proud.

1.) Moved to Bucharest from Iaşi

While I always wanted to live in Bucharest, I ended up here this year. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision and ended up being one of the best ideas I had lately. This decision, like very few others, was one of those mad decisions you cannot believe you just took, and become even more unbelievable when you notice how fast they start unraveling.

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2.) Rediscovered walking

And I don’t mean as opposed to driving or being driven. For some time now, I ended up taking long walks either around the neighborhood or around town to put a little order in my mind. They are simply great when your insomnia seems to be at its worse, but in later months, I have been using it solely for putting things together and figuring out where I’m headed.

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3.) Started my first research paper

I’m cheating here a bit – I have started my research in late 2009, but got a serious kick back in early 2010 thanks to the events happening then, therefore I got somewhat of a fresh start in November this year and I have been happily working on it ever since.

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4.) Rediscovered photography

Now this was one of the things that really put me back together – Like with many other things, I was close to giving up on it, and selling all my equipment. Fortunately, slowly but surely, I got back in the saddle again, and that made all the difference – we all need hobbies to keep ourselves busy, and having one you’re truly passionate about will help you more than you think.

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5.) Learned that indeed, Mick Jagger is right

In other words, I have learnt that while you do not always get what you want, you certainly get what you need. And this is probably the most important thing I had come to realize throughout the year, because all others just fall in after this. This works incredibly well with my general philosophy on life that while brick walls are there for a reason, you do not need to break down unnecessary walls (but sometimes we are too stubborn to realize).

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6.) Fell in love with my job(s)

Both of them actually. Working for Nikon has been from the beginning an amazing experience which only got better in time – I can only wish anyone would have a job like this. My other venture gave me the opportunity to grow as a project manager and understand more about leadership (and how strenuous it can be at times).

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7.) Fell asleep in the grass

by accident. To be honest, it is yet another thing up on my “must-do” list for 2011 since it gives you a certain zest like very few activities can or will. It is somewhere midway between letting go and utter madness. Not to mention that I woke up with one great idea that 2011 will allow me to put it in motion (but more about this after the New Year break)

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While there are many things I can write about, I wanted to narrow down the pylons that made 2010 what it was. It was filled with challenges up to the breakdown point, and it gave me an opportunity to stretch myself beyond my comfort zone and realize how many of my philosophies and ideas actually stand. And what I should say and did not up to this point, was that I had a whole army of people supporting me.

And since this is a photoblog, I summarized 2010 in this set of images – it’s either the people, the places or the events that made it how it is.